Jerry Lee Lewis to open Mississippi home for tours

The Dad Rock team visits the Sam Phillips Recording Service in Memphis and meets his son and granddaughter. Sam Phillips discovered and produced Elvis Presely, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash and many others.
Steve Elfers

The Lewis Ranch will be open starting Saturday, with small private group tours by appointment only taking place each Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tours are $30 per person. Ticket are available at the Lewis Ranch website, thelewisranch.com.

The ranch is at 1595 Malone Road in Nesbit, south of Memphis in DeSoto County. Lewis spends some time at the Nesbit ranch but has another home nearby where he lives with his wife, Judith.

Lewis' son, Jerry Lee Lewis III, said Thursday the public tours resume a practice from the 1990s and early 2000s.

"That's when I was just a kid," Lewis III said. "It was something my mom and dad were doing, and it just kind of ended because they reached a time where they were getting a divorce, and dad wasn't able to maintain it. So he closed down and was waiting for a better time."

In a statement announcing the new tour plans, the 81-year-old Lewis said, "I love all my fans. When they look back on me I want 'em to remember me not for all my wives, although I've had a few, and certainly not for any mansions or high-livin' money I made and spent. I want 'em to remember me simply for my music."

Lewis III, who will guide some of the tours, added in the statement that the tours will give fans a deeper insight into one of rock's great wild men, a performer “who is both rowdy and religious, famous and humble, who came from simple roots and worked hard to make it in music."

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The beleaguered Jerry Lee Lewis and wife, Myra, arrived home May 27, 1958 tired and confused about the trouble caused by the revelation of their five-month marriage to London reporters. The rock and roll singer and his 13-year-old bride had just arrived at the Memphis airport from London. In 1996, Lewis spoke of Myra: ''I really felt sorry for her. She was a little girl didn't have a thing. She had one gingham dress she wore to school. I felt sorry for her and I liked her and I married her and it was an experience. We grew real close together. Whether you'd call it love, I don't know. I think it was love, and I backed it up and didn't hide it like Elvis did and take her up to his house for 13 years and then marry her.'' Memphis Press-Scimitar

Jerry Lee Lewis and Kerrie Lynn McCarver were married on 24 Apr 1984 at her home on Quince Road in East Memphis. Promoter Jud Phillips is in background with glasses. James Kingsley, The Commercial Appeal

The only thing predictable about Elvis is that he's unpredictable. On Tuesday, December 4, 1956, Carl Perkins (second from left) was cutting some new records at Sam Phillips' Sun Record studio on Union at Marshall. Elvis Presley dropped in. So did Johnny Cash (right). Jerry Lee Lewis (left) was already there. Elvis headed for the piano, and an old-fashioned barrelhouse session with barbershop harmony resulted. Accompanying Elvis was his houseguest (not pictured) Marilyn Evans, 19, a dancer at the New Frontier in Las Vegas. CA files

April 27, 2013 - Jerry Lee Lewis rode in his Rolls Royce Corniche III, in a parade on Beale Street to celebrate the grand opening of the Jerry Lee Lewis' Cafe and Honkey Tonk on Saturday afternoon. His current wife Judith in in the back seat. Karen Pulfer Focht

February 18, 1993 - Jerry Lee Lewis at his club on Beale Street. The 400-seat club is at 326 Beale, west of the New Daisy Theatre. "I think I have found a honky tonk home away from home, " said the 57- year-old singer while sitting at the piano in the club. "This is the perfect spot for me to meet my legion of fans. I plan to drop by when I'm in town and will play a few scheduled times a year." Karen Pulfer Focht, The Commercial Appeal

October 17, 1984 - Jerry Lee Lewis, with his wife, Kerrie Lynn, outside the federal courtroom in Memphis just before defense rested in his trial for income tax evasion. The following day Lewis would be acquitted by a jury that found him to be an ignorant and negligent "good ole boy" who did not pay his taxes, but prosecutors failed to prove that the singer hid his assets from the Internal Revenue Service, jurors said. James Shearin/Commercial Appeal

May 27, 1958 - The beleaguered Jerry Lee Lewis arrived home in Memphis tired and confused about the trouble caused by the revelation of his five-month marriage to London reporters. The rock and roll singer and his 13-year-old bride went to their home at 4752 Dianne to rest from their long trip to London. In 1996, Lewis spoke of Myra: ''I really felt sorry for her. She was a little girl didn't have a thing. She had one gingham dress she wore to school. I felt sorry for her and I liked her and I married her and it was an experience. We grew real close together. Whether you'd call it love, I don't know. I think it was love, and I backed it up and didn't hide it like Elvis did and take her up to his house for 13 years and then marry her.'' Lloyd Dinkins, The Commercial Appeal

Jerry Lee Lewis sang the lyrics out of his own life's song during the Memphis Country Music Jamboree at the Orpheum Nov. 24, 1979. The Killer was introduced as the man "the FBI wants, the IRS wants and U.S. Marshals want....but you've got him." Thomas Busler, The Commercial Appeal

May 27, 1958 - The beleaguered Jerry Lee Lewis arrived home in Memphis tired and confused about the trouble caused by the revelation of his five-month marriage to London reporters. The rock and roll singer and his 13-year-old bride went to their home at 4752 Dianne to rest from their long trip to London. In 1996, Lewis spoke of Myra: ''I really felt sorry for her. She was a little girl didn't have a thing. She had one gingham dress she wore to school. I felt sorry for her and I liked her and I married her and it was an experience. We grew real close together. Whether you'd call it love, I don't know. I think it was love, and I backed it up and didn't hide it like Elvis did and take her up to his house for 13 years and then marry her.'' Lloyd Dinkins, The Commercial Appeal

April 7, 1982 - Jerry Lee Lewis with bass player, Randy Wilkes, at Memphis International Airport prior to departing for a European tour that will include stops in London, Berlin, Zurich, Rotterdam, Stockholm among other cities. The tour is to conclude on April 19. Barney Sellers, The Commercial Appeal

October 26, 1988 - Jerry Lee Lewis plays a piano at The Peabody following a press conference Wednesday for "Great Balls of Fire". Actor Dennis Quaid will portray Lewis in the movie to being filming Monday in Memphis. Said Lewis about Quaid, "He's got me down pretty good and it scares me to death." Dave Darnell, The Commercial Appeal

Seen at a London press conference on May 24, 1958 are American Rock 'n' Roll singer Jerry Lee Lewis, 22, and his cousin, Myra Brown, 13, whom he took as his third wife before divorcing his second. ASSOCIATED PRESS

Music legend Jerry Lee Lewis waves as he arrives for the 47th Annual Grammy Awards Sunday, Feb. 13, 2005, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Lewis was on hand to receive a lifetime achievement award from the Music Academy. MARK J. TERRILL, AP

Jerry Lee Lewis celebrated his 50th birthday at a party at the Vapors on Brooks Road on September 29, 1985. "The Killer" was born in 1935 at Ferriday, LA and began playing piano at age eight on a Stark Upright that his parents, Elmo and Mamie Lewis, mortgaged the farm to buy. Dave Darnell, The Commercial Appeal

Jerry Lee Lewis with former wife, Myra, as he was being released from Methodist Hospital South August 29, 1981. Lewis had been in the intensive care unit since June 30, when he underwent more than four hours of surgery to repair a two-inch tear in his stomach. After the first surgery, he developed abscesses in his stomach that required another lengthy operation on July 10. Dave Darnell, The Commercial Appeal

November 9, 2007 - Actor and songwriter Kris Kristofferson gave Jerry Lee Lewis his American Music Masters Award in Cleveland as part of the celebration honoring Jerry Lee Lewis this weekend. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum presented the 12th Annual American Music Masters, honoring 'The Life and Music of Jerry Lee Lewis." Lewis was in the front row watching the tribute to his life by a variety of performers doing the music that made him a Rock and Roll legend. Karen Pulfer Focht

September 18, 2006 - Jerry Lee Lewis performs September 19, 2006 at Spin City Records following a declaration by Shelby County Mayor AC Wharton of Jerry Lee Lewis Day in Memphis. The Rock and roll legend was promoting his star-studded upcoming album, "Last Man Standing" (to be released Sept. 26), which features the Killer performing with such luminaries as Bruce Springsteen, Eric Clapton, the Rolling Stones and Willie Nelson, to name a few. Nikki Boertman, The Commercial Appeal

From left, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash and producer Chips Moman sing during the recording of the "Class Of 55", a reunion album that Moman recorded using four legnedary rock 'n rollers that got their starts in Memphis. The face between Cash and Moman is lead guitar player Reggie Young. This scene took place at Moman's old American Recording Studio on North Thomas. Dave Darnell

Rock 'n' roll recording pioneer Sam Phillips, center, chats with Jerry Lee Lewis, left, and Ike Turner at a Thursday, June 8, 2000, party honoring Phillips in Memphis, Tenn. The party featured the Memphis debut of an A&E biography of Phillips. AP

In the summer of 2016, Lewis held an estate sale and discussed plans for tours of his property. The family says that the public will be able to get a look at Lewis’ home, ranch grounds, cars, and rock and roll memorabilia as part of admission.

Although his schedule has slowed somewhat, Lewis continues to perform locally, nationally and internationally.

Earlier this year, Lewis’ manager Craig Ericson said that Rock and Roll Hall of Famer was also contemplating a return to the recording studio to work on a follow up to his 2014 LP, Rock & Roll Time.